Chapter 685 Dawn (15)
"Führer, General Marshal sent a telegram saying that the fleet lost in the Battle of Bermuda and he felt very sorry..."
"Lost?" Hoffman was nervous, "How many warships were lost? Where is the fleet now?"
"No warships were lost. Some battleships were hit by bombs, but the damage was not serious. The aircraft carrier formation was basically safe and the aircraft loss was not too great. The only heavy loss was the Marine Corps accompanying the fleet." Marshal Dönitz, the first deputy commander of the Navy, did not dare to neglect after receiving Marshal's telegram. He immediately met with Hoffman and reported the combat situation in detail.
During the day, after the second wave of troops of the 82nd Airborne Division was blocked by carrier-based aircraft, the US Army Aviation quickly adjusted the focus of the operation and placed the attack force on the German fleet. The 82nd Airborne Division landed troops on Bermuda Island launched a siege against the German army. Under the attack of the US Army, which was five times larger than his own, Lieutenant Colonel Baker barely managed to hold out until the evening. When the Marines boarded the destroyer to retreat, there were only 297 people left, including the wounded, which was almost a fraction of the total number of people when they went to battle, and the loss rate was close to 80%. Baker's battle group was not only forced to abandon the bodies of his companions, but also could not take away most of the captured British and American officers and soldiers from Bermuda - they only forcibly took away more than 50 captured American pilots.
The situation of the 82nd Airborne Division was not much better. They suffered even more casualties in the two-day and one-night battle. Under the triple firepower of the German ground, air, and ships, only more than 600 of the more than 3,000 paratroopers who landed on the island survived, and only more than 1,600 of the more than 3,000 people who landed on the island survived. In addition to the casualties (captured) of the pilots, a total of almost 4,500 people were lost, and the loss was four times that of the German army. Especially after nightfall, when the 82nd Airborne Division attacked the remnants of the German army on the island, they did not expect the sudden arrival of German warships. Under the coverage of naval gunfire, they suffered heavy losses and were forced to abandon the attack and retreat to the south.
If Marshal could deploy three more Marine battalions at this time, Ridgway and the 82nd Airborne Division would not be able to escape the fate of complete destruction. Unfortunately, there were only three Marine battalions accompanying the fleet, and Lieutenant Colonel Baker could not let the sailors go ashore to participate in the battle - once the US aircraft attacked in large numbers at dawn, it would not be the Marines who would be lost, but the warships. So the two sides broke contact in the early morning, and the German army hurriedly disappeared into the night. Marshal reported the entire battle situation to Berlin after the fleet was transferred.
After listening to the report, Hoffman's face was uncertain, and he seemed to be thinking about something. After a long time, he asked Dönitz: "What do you think of this battle?"
"Strategically, it was undoubtedly correct. General Marshal successfully mobilized the main force of the enemy fleet, delayed the enemy's attack on the Falkland Islands, and bought time for our reinforcements to arrive in the Falkland Islands, but he made a big mistake in tactics. Of course, the responsibility cannot be put on him alone."
Marshal's mistakes were obvious. Even if Dönitz wanted to defend him, he had to frankly admit that his mistakes were:
First, he should not have rashly stationed three Marine battalions on Bermuda. Attacking and capturing the Bermuda defenders was already a complete victory for the German army. Marshal's self-confidence was inflated. He tried to attract the US military's attack and create opportunities for the fleet to annihilate the enemy by stationing on the island. The strategy was very risky. From the results, not only did it fail to achieve the expected effect, but it also caused the Marine Corps to be unable to leave and disadvantaged in fighting. The hot-headed adventure suffered serious losses;
Secondly, after encountering the attack of the US paratroopers, Marshal Marshall unilaterally believed in the combat effectiveness of his own troops, refused to dispatch fleets or aircraft to cover the Marines, and did not organize a timely retreat that night. Instead, he let them complete the task of annihilating the US military. As a result, the Marines' attack was curbed by the opponent's air superiority. Fortunately, the Marines' combat effectiveness was amazing, and they barely maintained a situation of both sides suffering losses through night attacks. If the combat effectiveness was a little worse, the entire army would basically be destroyed;
Finally, when facing the test of a heroic man cutting off his arm, Marshall did not decisively abandon the Marines and escape, but was forced to dispatch carrier-based aircraft and fleets for cover, trying to continue to bet on the already pressed bet. He himself did not realize this, but others, including Dönitz in Berlin, saw it clearly-fortunately, the US fleet failed to arrive at the scene, and the heavy bombers used by the US Army Aviation had poor anti-sea attack capabilities, and the German carrier-based aircraft just happened to catch up with the attack on paratroopers and transport aircraft. As long as one of these two aspects had an accident, Marshall would at least lose several warships and lose more troops.
During this period, he also rejected Ozawa's correct suggestions twice - Marshal's attitude was very honest and he didn't hide it and refused to say it.
Hoffman sighed. He certainly knew the problems of the senior commanders of the German Navy: Compared with their Japanese counterparts, senior naval officers including Marshal were inferior at the beginning. They avoided the main forces of the British and American fleets and dared not touch them unless they had to fight to the death - such as the time when they rushed into the Azores from the North Sea; later they were arrogant, won a few times, and began to get excited after taking advantage, thinking that the British and American navies were nothing special, and then they suffered a blow, such as the failure of the Bermuda Campaign, and quickly slipped into inferiority - Marshal now suggested pulling the fleet back to Italy for rest and avoiding confrontation with Britain and the United States.
In the final analysis, this was the result of the fault stage of the navy's development after World War I. Whether it was the combat concept, technical equipment or command system, they could not keep up with the times. The only thing they could show off was probably the submarine force, and the style of wanting to win and fearing to lose dominated. Hoffman could provide them with better equipment and more warships, as well as the opportunity to learn about the Combined Fleet at close range, but he obviously could not significantly improve the command capabilities of senior generals overnight.
Marshal and Crank were both excellent generals in the navy. Hoffman bet that if Kumets had led the troops, the situation would have been even worse. After all, although a not-so-weak navy had been established, they were still fighting with a mentality of breaking up trade. This mentality worked well in the early stages of the Falkland Islands, Brazil, and Guyana, but it failed when it came to the battle of the bayonets near Bermuda.
"We can't rest. Once the fleet rests, Britain and the United States will go straight to the Falkland Islands. How can we defeat them with the troops there?" Hoffman said after a moment of silence, "Let him go to the Azores to regroup, redeploy three Marine battalions and go south again. They don't have to fight the Americans, but they must entangle the opponent's main fleet and can't let the enemy attack the Falkland Islands easily. Now is the critical moment when South American countries are undergoing drastic changes and moving closer to the Axis. We must defend the Falkland Islands and maintain our reputation there at all costs. Every bit we delay the enemy in South America, the Azores will be safer and the Western Front will be more consolidated."
Dönitz nodded. He still understood this principle.
"The one fighting the Marines was the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army?"
"Yes, the commander was Matthew Ridgway, and according to the telegram, he was also commanding on the front line." Dönitz added, "The Marines bravely attacked despite being outnumbered, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, and at least 4,000 enemy troops were eliminated. Marshal thought the Marines were great, and their contributions should not be erased. The heavy losses were his personal command responsibility."
Hoffman thought: The 82nd Airborne Division and Ridgway were certainly not ordinary people. It seems that Roosevelt was really anxious this time, and he used all his best skills. The US military was risking their lives to land on such a small island.
"The entire Baker battle group was brought back to the country, and all participants in the battle were issued Bermuda battle armbands. The surviving Marines were promoted one level regardless of their ranks, and were awarded medals of honor based on their performance. They were used as the backbone, and personnel were drawn from the Army to form a new Marine Brigade, called the Bermuda Brigade, to commemorate this battle." Hoffman said, "This happened more than 1,000 kilometers away from the U.S. mainland. Like the Panama Battle, it greatly shocked the United States. Regardless of the outcome, at least we showed our strength to the Americans, which is a huge success. Judging from the overall battle situation and exchange ratio, we not only did not lose, but also achieved major success. The Marines cannot return home with the hat of failure after fighting bloody battles. It's unfair to them."
Dönitz nodded in understanding: The Führer is for the war. The tone was set, and everything would be easy with this attitude. He immediately pleaded for Marshal, and Hoffman replied: "I hope he can learn a lesson from it and consider the problem more carefully and comprehensively. I won't dwell on specific issues. Neither you nor I are saints, and we have made mistakes. Just learn from them. As for the next stage, let the commerce-breaking fleet go out to cut off the British-Canadian route and let those escort aircraft carriers taste the power of commerce-breaking aircraft carriers. If the enemy's main force comes, we can fight them again. I hope they won't let me down this time!"
The commerce-breaking fleet mentioned by Hoffman refers to the squadron composed of the Dunkirk commerce-breaking aircraft carrier, which was renovated and put into service half a month ago, and the Richelieu battleship, which was just repaired two days ago. In particular, the Dunkirk with an angled deck placed Hoffman with high expectations.
Unlike ordinary aircraft carriers, the Dunkirk after the renovation is completely a product beyond the times, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as shocking. It was initially converted into an aviation battleship, but during the construction process, it was found that muzzle storm had too much impact on aircraft takeoff and landing. Finally, all the guns were removed to completely turn it into a straight-through aircraft carrier. However, unlike ordinary aircraft carriers, the flight deck is straight, but the hangar is not. Because if the hull structure is completely remodeled, it is better to rebuild a new warship. Therefore, the guns were simply removed and flattened, and the location originally intended to store main gun ammunition and turrets became an armored fuel and ammunition depot.
The empty rear half of the Dunkerque was converted into a hangar, but the area is very small and only single-layer, which can only accommodate 24 aircraft (partially folded) and 6 spares. There is also a side elevator for transportation, and the remaining 24 regular aircraft are moored on the deck at the rear and on the starboard protrusion.
From the appearance, the Dunkerque is a standard post-World War II aircraft carrier, with a straight main deck, a port angle, and a starboard protrusion for balance and compensation and for mooring some aircraft, but its internal structure is still very different from that of modern aircraft carriers, the most prominent of which is its excellent armor and defense capabilities.